Veritix aims to drive fans, teams closer together

Samuel Gerace has a simple philosophy for Veritix, the Cleveland digital ticketing company for which he has served as CEO since its inception in January 2008.“We don't insert ourselves into the relationship (between the team and the fan),” Gerace said. “We don't interrupt the connection between the team and the fans. We are the platform and they are the brand.”As we explained in this week's Crain's print story on Veritix, the company made a major breakthrough last month when it became the first to crack what had been a Ticketmaster-owned league in the NFL.By agreeing to a multiyear contract with the Detroit Lions last month to serve as their primary ticket provider, Veritix could be setting the stage for more teams to cut ties with Ticketmaster, which, until the Lions made the switch, had contracts with all 32 NFL teams to be the primary ticket provider. (The California-based company's dominance of the league is cemented by its stance as the official home of the NFL's secondary ticket market.)Veritix is trying to change the trend, and Gerace believes that by concentrating on engagement and shifting some of the focus from game day to a year-round approach, his company is a viable option for any team looking to do something different.“I think there are a couple factors that really play into this,” Gerace said of the Lions deal. “The NFL is, as you know, the most valuable sports league on the planet. What we're seeing at forward thinking teams like the Lions is even though they have tremendous opportunities to grow, historically they have been focusing on game-related commerce.“But the Lions in particular are really forward thinking,” Gerace continued. “Their strategy is to acknowledge fans are fans 365 days a year, and they want to engage those fans and maximize the lifetime value of the fans.”Gerace said Veritix's software enables teams to have a “digital profile” of its attendees at any event — whether it be the Lions' regular-season opener against the Vikings on Sept. 8 or the Monster Jam that will be held at Ford Field on Jan. 11. (Veritix's contract with the Lions allows the Cleveland company to serve as the official secondary market for all non-football events at Ford Field.)“This industry has realized that it is based entirely on fandom,” Gerace said. “It expects that your relationship with a team or an artist is so strong that if you announce an event, they will come. Studies have shown that teams and events don't know who 70% of its customers are.“Fans can now (through increased engagement efforts) feel like they have relationship with a team, a player or an artist,” Gerace continued. “Teams are realizing they need to do smart marketing. Flash Seats (the electronic ticketing company owned by Dan Gilbert and part of Veritix's system) gives the team the identity of 100% of the attendees, and it lets them build a profile (of each fan). If you always arrive five minutes before the event, the team knows that (via digital ticketing).”

Luis Perez, the Lions' senior vice president and chief financial officer, told Crain's that the team began discussing breaking from Ticketmaster shortly after it renewed its most recent contract with the industry giant.“I guess the process goes back to two years ago,” Perez said. “The last time we renewed with Ticketmaster for two years, I gathered our ticketing guys and felt that by the time that renewal came up two years later, there would be really viable alternatives for tickets. For an organization like ours, it didn't really make sense to stay with Ticketmaster. We started a bidding process two years ago that included Veritix and other companies.”Since the Lions went the unconventional route and went outside the Ticketmaster monopoly, Gerace believes more team will be inclined to do the same.“This goes quickly,” he said. “We're really pushing in all of these areas to be the open ticketing platform that really supports a 21st-century marketplace. I would expect NFL teams to have increased confidence in us as our relationship with the Lions develops.”Veritix is also making a big push in the college ranks.Gerace said the company has a sales force that was created to concentrate solely on securing the business of colleges, and Monday it unveiled a platform it will use in the pursuit. Jim Kahler — executive director of the Center for Sports Administration at Ohio University's College of Business and a former Cavs executive — told Crain's in a recent phone interview that the shift away from Ticketmaster has been on the minds of many in the industry for years. The NBA, for example, has six teams — the Cavs, 76ers, Jazz, Nuggets, Rockets and Trail Blazers — that don't have deals with Ticketmaster to serve as their primary marketplace. (Veritix has contracts with the Cavs, Jazz, Nuggets and Rockets.)“I think Flash Seats really was a wakeup call for Ticketmaster,” Kahler said. “It was great technology. Ticketmaster might have been getting fat and sassy. Really, where do you think the money comes from in the industry? It's coming from you and me.”An NFL team down the road from Veritix's headquarters at the Chase Financial Tower has been doing a much better job of engaging its fans under its new regime.Could the Browns be Veritix's next NFL conquest?

“We would love to be a real hometown team here and get the Browns,” Gerace said. “There is great opportunity for us in the NFL.”

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The next two weekends are two of the best of the year if you are a fantasy football nut.It's draft time.Break out the spreadsheets and the red markers, but please don't discuss purchasing a trophy for the league champion.This year, there is a no-doubt-about-it No. 1 overall choice in Adrian Peterson — then everyone else. The race for the No. 2 pick is as wide open as Travis Benjamin being guarded one-on-one by Sheldon Brown on a fly pattern.If you're among the many debating the merits of C.J. Spiller, Doug Martin, Arian Foster, Jamaal Charles and Co., I want to hear from you.Do you work for a company in which more than a handful of employees compete in a highly competitive fantasy football league? Even better.Tell me about your league's rabid fantasy football league history, and I'll share the best stories in this blog and/or Crain's print edition.Send an email to kkleps@crain.com or contact me on Twitter.I want to hear about your league's devotion to fantasy football, not about your most recent draft (unless the latter includes Travis Benjamin being selected ahead of Calvin Johnson).You can follow me on Twitter for sports information and analysis, but hopefully not an announcement that I landed the No. 2 pick in every league in which I compete.

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